m

THE BARRAGE. 31

bronze, which was burned into the skin by the reflection from

the water. While my friends were enjoying their usual after-

noon repose, a secret presentiment made me climb to the roof

of our cabin. I had not sat there long, before I descried two

faint blue triangles on the horizon, far to the south. I rudely broke in upon their indolence with a shout of "the Pyra- mids I " which Seyd echoed with " El-hdram Faraoon I " I

was as much impressed with the view as I expected to be, but

I completely nullified the European's emotion by translating

to him Thackeray's description of his first sight of those re-

nowned monuments.

The same evening we reached the northern point of the

Delta, where we were obliged to remain all night, as the wind

was not sufficiently strong to allow us to pass the Barrage

Singularly enough, this immense work, which is among the

greatest undertakings of modem times, is scarcely heard of out

of Egypt. It is nothing less than a damming of the Nile, which is to have the effect of producing two inundations a

year, and doubling the crops throughout the Delta. Here, where the flood divides itself into two main branches, which

find separate mouths at Damietta and Rosetta, an immense dam has not only been projected, but is far advanced toward

completion. Each branch will be spanned by sixty-two arches,

besides a central gateway ninety feet in breadth, and flanked

by lofty stone towers. The point of the Delta, between the

two dams, is protected by a curtain of solid masonry, and the

abutments which it joins are fortified by towers sixty or seven- y feet in height. The piers have curved breakwaters on the

upper side, while the opposite parapet of the arches rises high above them, so that the dam consists of three successive ter-